Welt-butting machine.



N0 MODEL PATENTED APR. 7, 1903.

G.L.EATON. WELT BUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 7. 1902.

3 SHEBTSSHEET 11 E Y I. .2 3 L W 9 L a O I w a I j Wi'incsscs:'

No 724,828. I PATENTED APR. 7, 1903.

. G.L.EATON.

N0 MODE 3 SHEETS SHEBT Z.

I 60 d8 m'intssas': 3 Inventor:

96 Cl;z renceL.Eaion, i}

PATENTED APR. 7. 1903 C.L.EATON. ,WELT BUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 7. 1902.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 8 N0 MODEL m'lnesses:

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UNITED ST TES I PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE L. EATON, BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK.

WELT-BUTTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 724,828, dated April '7,1903.

Application filed August 7, 1902.

To all whom, it may concern: Be it known that I, CLARENCE L. EATON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Binghamton, in the county ofBroome and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Welt-Butting Machines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

The present invention relates to machines used in the manufacture ofboots and shoes, and has for its object to produce an improved machinefor cutting ed the rear ends of the welt adjacent to the heel-seatportion of the shoe, which operation is known in the art aswelt-butting.

In welted boots and shoes after the shoe has been subjected to theactionof the weltsewing machine, which unites the welt, upper, and inner sole,there is a considerable length of welt left projecting rearwardly overthe heel-seat and unattached, and these free ends must be cut ofi beforethe attachment of the outer sole. This operation is now generallyperformed by a knife held in the hands of the operator, who first cutsoff the end of the welt upon one side of the heel-seat and then theother. This hand operation is tiresome in the extreme and slow, and muchcare must be exercised on the part of the workman not to injure theupper, and in spite of the greatest care many shoes are accidentally outwhile undergoing this process. Then, again, as both ends are cut offindependently there is no uniformityin the cuts, and in most cases thewelts are longer upon one side than the other.

It has been proposed prior to the present invention to provide suitablemachines for butting welts, and while they to a great extent are a Vastimprovement on the hand method in that by their use uniformityin resultcan be secured, yet they have not been used to any extent, chieflybecause the work cannot be expeditiously performed, for in such machinesprovision is made for cutting off but one end of the welt'at eachoperation. In the present machine both ends of the welt are cut off at asingle operation.

The machine comprises a pair of welt-but- Serial No. 118,773. (Nomodel.)

inafter described and claimed.

The present invention'is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view of the improvedmachine, showing a lasted and welted shoe in position tobe operated.

upon. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine. Fig. 3 is a front elevationshowing the parts in their normal positions. Fig. 4=is asection taken online 4 4 of Fig. 1, showing a portion of a shoe with thesupporting-blades introduced below the ends of the welt. Fig. 5 is asectional view showing the connection of one of the cutters with itssupporting-shaft and the means for adjusting the cutting-blades. Fig. 6is a section taken substantially on line 6 6 of Fig. 3, showing theclutch mechanism between the driving-pulley and its driven shaft. Fig. 7is a central vertical sectional view through the driving-pulley, itsdriven shaft, and the clutch for connecting the same.

Similar reference characters will be employed throughout thespecification and drawings to designate corresponding parts.

The machine comprises a suitable frame 1 of a size and shape to supportthe operative parts, consisting of the side standards 2 and a horizontalweb 3. The central portion of the web 3 is cutout at the front, formingan opening 4, in which the heel portion of the shoe is inserted andpositioned with relation to the welt-butting mechanism.

As heretofore stated, it is designed that both ends of the welt shall becut off simultaneously, and for this purpose the machine comprises twowelt-butting cutters and their cooperating welt-supportingblades, thepairs of cutters and blades-being movable toward each other andpositioned with relation to the ends of the welt accordingly as the shoeis narrow or wide, and such adjustment of the cutters and cooperatingblades is automatically produced by the insertion and positioning of theshoe to be operated on.

As shown in the drawings, the web 3 is provided with guideways 5 and 6,located. on opposite sides of the opening 4, and in these guideways aresupported the sliding plates 7 and 8, upon which are mounted thewelt-supporting plates and the welt-butting cutters. The guideways 5 and6 are preferably formed by plates 9, 10, 11, and 12, having a bevelededge secured to the upper face of the web 3, so as to form dovetailedgrooves in which the plates 7 and 8 may slide while being held therebyagainst vertical displacement.

Secured to or formed integrally with the opposing ends of the plates 7and 8 are the welt-supporting blades 13 and 14, formed so as to providea substantially heel shaped opening and thinned or tapering toward theiredges, whereby a thin edge is presented to the incoming shoe. Theseblades are designed to be passed under and to support the rear ends ofthe welt for the action of the welt-butting cutters.

Secured to the lower faces of the plates 7 and 8 are two dependingguide-flanges 17 and 1S, curved, as shown, and projecting through theopening 4 of the machine. As the shoe A is forced through theguide-flanges 17 and 18 the said guide-flanges contacting with the sidesof the shoe will spread the sliding plates 7 and 8, and thus positionthe welt-supporting blades and cutters.

Springs 19 and 20, preferably leaf-springs, as shown, are arrangedbetween the plates 7 and 8 and the frame of the machine for the purposeof maintaining the plates normally in their inward position. It will beseen that by means of this yielding mounting provision is made foroperating on shoes of different widths, since the introduction of a shoebetween the fianges 17 and 18 will move the plates 7 and 8 to positionthe welt-supporting blades and cutters according to the width of theshoe.

Secured to the upper faces of the plates 7 and 8 are standards 21 and22, which serve to control the positions of the knives for cutting ofithe rear ends of the welt. These standards rise vertically from theplates 7 and 8 and at their upper ends carry bearings 29 and 30 forengaging sleeves on the knife or cutter arms, which will now bedescribed.

Mounted in bearings 31 and 32 at the upper ends of the standards 2 is ahorizontal shaft 33, provided with a key or keyway extending the wholelength thereof. A pair of arms 34 and 35, which support the knives, aresleeved and are provided with corresponding ways or keys for cooperatingwith the complementary parts on the shaft. In the drawings the shaft 33is illustrated as having a key and the sleeves as having ways 37 and 38.The sleeved arms are therefore free to slide along the shaft, but mustrotate or oscillate with it. The sleeves 39 and 40 of the respectivearms are made of considerable length, whereby they may be journaled inthe bearings 29 and 30 of the standards 21 and 22. The sleeves are freeto turn in these bearings, but are secured against lateral movementswith relation thereto by means of collars 41 and 42, fixed to the outerends of the respective sleeves and abutting against the sides of thebearings. As the standards are moved laterally by the insertion of theshoe to be operated upon it will be seen that the arms 34 and 35, andtherefore the cutting blades or knives, are likewise moved, each knifebeing therefore always located above its cooperating supporting-blade.

The arms 34 and 35 are provided at their outer ends with knives 43 and44, respectively, the knives conforming to the curvature of thesupporting-heads and 46, the V curves being preferably arcs of circleswith their centers at the axis of the shaft 33. It is clear that if theshaft 33 is oscillated the knives 43 and 44 will descend and if properlyadjusted will cut the free ends of the welt resting on thesupporting-blades 13 and 14. The upper surfaces of the blades 13 and 14are preferably curved similarly to the knives in order that the knivesmay swing into close proximity therewith without danger of con-' tact.

As a means for accurately adjusting the cutters I have made each of thearms 34 and 35 in two parts 34 34" and 35 35*, one of which is slotted,as at 47, and secured to the other by means of set-screws 47, passingthrough the slots. By loosening the setscrews the arms may be lengthenedor shortened, as desired. In order to provide for lateral adjustmentofthe knives, the heads 45 and 46 are slidingly mounted in dovetailedgrooves 48 and 49 in the ends of the arms 34 and 35, respectively.Set-screws 50 and 51 pass through flanges 52 and 53 of the heads 45 and46 and are threaded into the arms 34 and 35. Pins 54 engage grooves 55in the respective set-screws and while allowing freedom of rotationthereof prevent any axial movement of the screws with respect to theheads. By these adjustments the positions of the knives can be regulatedas desired.

In order to operate the shaft 33 to cause the cutters to act, I haveprovided it with a central arm 56, slotted, as at 57, the arm beingoperated by a crank carried by a second shaft 58, mounted in bearings 59and 60 to the rear of the shaft 33. The shaft 58 is provided with acentral crank 61, engaging in the slot 57 of the arm 56. The shaft 58 isintermittently driven one revolution at a time, so that the cutters makeone stroke only every time that they are set in operation. The means forproducing this intermittent motion will now be described.

Loosely mounted on one end of the shaft 58 is a pulley 62, held againstmovement along the shaft by means of apair of collars 63 and 64, fixedto the shaft on opposite sides of the pulley. The shaft 58 is providedwith a short keyway 65, extending some distance within the hub of thepulley 62, the pulley-hub having a complementary slot or keyway 66.

key 67 of any preferred form is slidingly mounted in the keyway 65. besupported and actuated in any desired manner; but in the drawings I haveshown preferred means. is secured at one end to the collar 63 and passesunder and is secured to the key, thereby supporting the key and tendingto move it into engagement with the pulley-slot 66. When such engagementof the key and slot is effected, the pulley, which is drivencontinuously, will carry with it the shaft 58, thereby operating thecutters. The key is normally held out of engagement with the pulleyslotby means of a detent 69, secured to a rod and pressed upwardly by meansof a spring 71, encircling the rod 70 and bearing at one end against thedetent and at its other'end against an inclosing cup 72, carried by abracket 73, which projects from the frame 1. When the detentis inengagement with the notch 67 of thekey, the connection between the shaftand pulley is broken and the pulley rotates freely. To the lower end ofthe rod 70 is secured a treadle, (not shown,) and by pressing his footon the treadle the operator retracts the detent 69 against the tensionof the spring 71, thereby releasing the key 67 and permitting the spring68 to act and throw the key into operative engagement with the pulley.As it is desired that but a single rotation of the shaft 58 shall occurat each operation of the treadle, the detent 69 is so constructed thatif the treadle is pressed down and then released immediately the detentwill automatically engage the key 67 and retract it after one revolutionof the shaft. For this purpose the detent 69 is curved to lie close tothe shaft through a considerable arc and is beveled at one end 69*. Asthe shaft 58 revolves the beveled end of the detent engages the notch 67and retracts the detent.

The operation of .the machine will now be clearly understood inconnection with the above description and the drawings and is asfollows: The operator inserts the rear end of a lasted and welted shoe,bottom side upward, between the flanges 17 and 18 and presses the shoeinward until the blades 13 and 14 have entered the requisite distancebelow the ends a and ct of the welt, this operation forcing the slides 7and 8 apart and spacing the cutters 43 and 44 the proper distance apartfor acting on the welt ends. The treadle 74 is then depressed andimmediately released, this causing the detent 69 to free thespringpressed key 67, whereupon the key slides into engagement with thepulley. The pulley now carries with it in its rotation the shaft 58, andthrough the crank connection of this shaft with the shaft 33 thecutters, which are normally raised, as shown in Fig. 1, descend and trimor cut away the loose ends of the welt. As the shaft completes itsrevolution the movement of the shaft 33 is reversed and the The key 67may A curved spring-plate 68- cutters are again raised preparatory toanother cutting operation. At the same time that the cutters are raisedthe bevel 69 of the detent engages the notch 67 and retracts the key 67,thereby breaking the connection between the pulley and its shaft.

Having described my invention, I claim as new and desire to protect byLetters Patent of the United States 1. A machine for butting welts,having in combination, a pair of welt-supporting blades, a pair ofwelt-butting cutters and mechanism to simultaneously operate saidcutters, substantially as described.

2. Ainachine for butting welts, having in combination, a pair ofwelt-butting cutters movable laterally toward and from each other andmechanism to simultaneously operate said cutters, substantially asdescribed.

3. A machine forbutting welts, having in combination, a pair ofwelt-supporting blades, a pair of welt-butting cutters, movable carrierstherefor and springs for moving the carriers toward each other,substantially as described.

4. A machine for butting welts, having in combination, a pair ofwelt-butting cutters, spring-pressed carriers uponwhich said cutters aremounted and means arranged to be engaged by the inserted shoe forpositioning the cutters over the ends of the welt, substantially asdescribed.

5. In a welt-butting machine, the combination with a pair ofwelt-butting cutters for cutting off the ends of the welt at oppositesides of the shoe, of means controlled by the shoe being operated uponto position said cutters with relation to the ends of the welt whetherthe shoe be wide or narrow, substantially as described.

6. A welt-butting machine, having in combination,a pair of welt-buttingcutters mounted upon laterally-movable supports and a sliding connectionbetween said cutters and their operating mechanism, substantially asdescribed.

7. A welt-butting machine having in combination, a welt-butting cutter,a rocker-arm supporting said cutter, a shaft supporting said rocker-armand means to permit said rocker-arm to slide along said shaft,substantially as described. 7

8. A welt-butting machine, comprising a pair of welt-supporting blades,a pair of weltbutting cutters, sliding carriers for said weltsupportingblades and cutters and guidefianges for engaging the sides of the shoeto position said cutters and welt supporting blades with relation to theends of the welt, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CLARENCE L. EATON.

Witnesses:

T. HART ANDERSON, WM. F. FREUDENREICH.

